This invention relates to frame members for supporting manhole/inspection covers or gratings.
In order to ensure that a manhole/inspection cover or grating is firmly seated in the road or other surface within which it is installed and is substantially non-rocking, it is known to fit the cover or grating within a frame having angled seating faces which are inclined downwardly towards each other, and to provide correspondingly inclined faces on the cover or grating for engaging these angled seating faces. The frame may comprise two or more frame members each of which comprises two seating blocks defining angled seating faces downwardly inclined towards each other and an elongate frame bar connecting the blocks together. However, the cover or grating may be subjected to high loading, particularly in heavy traffic areas, and this arrangement suffers from the disadvantage that all the load is taken by the seating faces on the seating blocks.
It is an object of the invention to obviate this disadvantage by distributing the load more evenly along the frame member.